Pink Scales and Wives' Tales
by nazzynaz
Summary: Sirens are evil sea creatures that need to be destroyed; renowned naval captain Kakashi's goal is to destroy all of that evil. He dryly guesses that he needs to find another goal, because there is this one Siren he can't kill. He likes her song far too much.
1. Rose Quartz

_**Chapter 1:**_

 _ **a/n: hello guys! this is my first story, it took a lot of time to set up everything for the plot and research Greek mythology and Sirens and what not. i did it for you guys. i hope you guys like it! :-)**_

 _ **Rose Quartz**_

When he stood, he perched himself meticulously atop the bowsprit of the ship (much too meticulous for a pirate, and a pirate captain no less), and let the warm ocean breeze dominate his senses and bare face. The prudent way the man stood, albeit the lazy slouch in his posture, indicated that perhaps he may have been a sterling fighter or lancer in his younger days. Maybe he was even a nobleman who abandoned his status to quench a thirst for adventure. In contrast, with his un-fastidious mess of silver hair that suspended onto the eye-patch covering his damaged left optical organ, he physically was nothing short of a model corsair. Despite the way he carried himself, however, he led like a true marauder. He had gained nothing but respect from his crew over the years he had been in the profession- but, really, there was nothing professional about piracy. Kakashi liked the lack of rule and order, and how he could designate his own destiny aboard his own ship.

This time was one of the very few where Kakashi Hatake would unveil himself and allow his black mask to hang loosely around his neck. He enjoyed parting his lips slightly to accede the sapphire sea whisking below him to fill his mouth with the salty breeze. It was nothing short of calming, but the man did not let that sparkling sapphire sea act as a beautiful pretense for what lurked evilly below it.

The ocean held a variety of creatures that would massacre him without a second thought; they were feral beasts with no morality, as they were simply not capable of processing such a concept. Kakashi forgave them for that. He forgave the creatures for killing countless numbers of his men. They needed to survive. This was the most striking difference between humans and animals- a moral compass, a functioning brain telling them what they were doing was evil. It's merely how they were constructed. The animals weren't stealing lives, they were plainly hungry or threatened.

There was a fatal Siren gliding in the waters below, and she was capable of processing this morality. He knew she was. So Kakashi resented her for it. He wanted her dead and he was going to carry out the deed single-handedly. From all of the hearsay from his sailors who survived her, for the man had personally not seen her yet, he had gathered that she unambiguously slaughtered people for her own amusement. It was unambiguous because of that reported coy smile she executed when men would jump into the water for her, and how she would dip underneath the water's surface and the men would de-materialize to never be seen again. Not only did she inundate his men's minds with her melodic voice, she went a step further and inundated them to their deaths.

They called this monster Rose Quartz. She reportedly had lengthy pink hair, porcelain skin, and lambent, irradiated, green eyes.

Around the time Kakashi started thinking about her more deeply, he tugged at the mask around his throat half-consciously. Although his men and others near the shore in his town dispatched the message of how she looked physically all of the same opinion and report, he questioned if she really was a Siren. Pink didn't belong to the sea. Neither did the shade of bright green her eyes took on. The fact that she killed men for fun was also very, very atypical for a Siren. Sirens only wanted to make ships crash so they could plunder what was inside.

He definitely did have his doubts. Because of the characteristics and number of Sirens he executed in his time as a marauder, he went off personal anecdotal experience rather than stories and folktales. There were only three of them because they were so attenuate in number, but were so detrimental in ability- Sirens were quality over quantity. His doubts corded themselves from the way they all had looked. They shared similar attributes. All of the ones he killed had dark blue hair coinciding with the color of their sea, tan skin from the sun's constant streaming through the ocean, and eyes of the same hue as their hair. Only the long stretch of hair and the petite figure they maintained were of similar quality to Rose Quartz. Rose Quartz allegedly was an anomaly among the Siren world. It led the captain to believe that she was a hybrid of sorts. The first thing that came to mind was that a male Siren fell in love and had a child with a Huldra, a seductive forest nymph. Rose Quartz apparently looked more of a Huldra than a Siren, but again, he had never seen her and nobody had seen her from the waist down yet.

No matter her origins, his resolve was to kill her. A treacherous thing like that needed to be destroyed.

With one last parting glance at the sea, he dragged his facial cloak back to its' original position. It was dusk and time to set out on the sea. A journey to the Land of Earth was in order so the crew could resupply on vital items, mainly fresh water. They had docked their ship in the Land of Mist for a night.

They could travel to Konoha, their home town, and restock, but the Land of Earth was also a prime spot for encountering Rose Quartz in the deep waters. It was here where a majority of her musical barrages would occur. This was another contributing factor that lead Kakashi to believe she was a Siren/Huldra mix. Many Sirens made their watery dwellings in the Land of Mist and most were even born there. The Land of Mist accommodated their needs better than Earth; it was almost always rainy there, the waters were always full, there was more turbulence to confuse the sailors even more so they would crash their ship more easily near their reefs. Earth's land incorporated more grassy and seaweed ridden shores, its' reefs had more iridescent land plants than dark water plants. It was more of a place for Huldras.

With his thoughts of Rose Quartz racing, the captain turned and ambled down his bowsprit with ease. He walked slowly so as to think of the watery vixen more, and how his very own men could succumb to a simple but pretty harmony. He never understood it; Kakashi had heard many a song from Sirens, but to fall prey to it was foolish. It was vacuous. And to their actual deaths? He would never understand that either.

Kakashi was only taking the most tenacious and unyielding men of his crew for this journey. He prayed to the gods above, if there were any, that these men would not succumb to Rose Quartz's malignant voice. To lose even one would be calamitous. If one capitulated to her, another would follow, and then another and another. It was how Sirens got large vessels to wreck on their coasts so they could loot the sailors and pirates and the ship itself. If only one man yielded to their prepossessing song, these ship wrecks would never occur for another man could take a hold of the helm, the mainmast, and crow's nest. Sirens had the ability to take down the entirety of the ship in one swing. It made them one of the most powerful creatures of the sea, if not the most.

Kakashi had become so immersed in his theories he hadn't realized he was now standing in front of his quartermaster. The senbon between the quartermaster's lips moved with his smirk and he strolled up to his captain.

Though the captain slouched, he was still a whole head taller than his quartermaster.

"Aye, we are all stocked up to the best of our ability. Til' we get to Earth. Dunno how long takin' down Quartz will be but if it's more than two days, our men'll be sufferin'. You need to take 'er down swiftly and do so in a sterile manner. Heard that Siren blood can be poisonous to a man," the brunette quartermaster said. The handsome silver haired man smiled but shook his head.

"I will kill her briskly, but you have been listening to too many wives tales. Human blood can survive and intermingle with Siren blood. Genma, what exactly are Sirens again?"

The way that Kakashi talked was also another clear indicator that he had not been born into a pirate blooded family. He had a polite vocabulary, and spoke softly and with great nimb.

"Greek myths will tell me different things. One day 'll hear that these Sirens are Persephone's hand maidens, that they're demi-goddesses incapable of dying. The next day 'll hear that they are actually some sort of sea bird who were punished by Demeter herself by not defending Persephone from Hades' abduction. It is all too confusing for me."

Kakashi ran a hand through his mussed hair and tilted his head up slightly.

"Myths and gods aside, you've seen me kill three Sirens; they are not immortal. They are only half human and half fish, but with a dangerous voice. That is it," Kakashi divulged to Genma smoothly. A scoff escaped from Genma's lips and it rattled the senbon between them even more.

"You can't possibly tell me that a creature responsible for killing scores of yer' own men is not of the supernatural? Tis' simply not 'half human half fish'," Genma scorned his captain and even removed his senbon from his mouth. Gemna was allowed to go against Kakashi verbally because as a quartermaster, he was almost on par with his captain except in terms of battle. Them being close friends also allowed them to talk back to each other. It wasn't a matter of polite diplomacy; Kakashi valued Genma's opinion more than any other crew member on his ship.

Kakashi looked at Genma, and his one visible eye crinkled. "Going into battle with a creature you have talked yourself into believing is solely just a wretched, pathetic interbreed of man and fish makes going into the fight easier," Kakashi told to him. He waited for the man's irascible retort.

"Talking yerself into something that might not be true leads to cockiness and cockiness leads to defeat. Kakashi, friend, please do not underestimate your opponent. Quartz may be, to you, just be a beautiful woman with a beautiful voice, but I've seen her kill your men before my own two eyes."

"You're confusing confidence for cockiness," Kakashi said.

"...and as for my men, they will be avenged with posthaste."

Genma sighed and deposited his precious senbon back between his teeth. He reached into the back pocket of his tan, cuffed breeches, bringing out a platinum repository and opening it in front of his captain. He withdrew a a large gobbet of beeswax from it. He placed the chunk in the middle of his right palm and extended it to Kakashi.

"Are you going to be the Oedipus of my ship now, Genma? You are the one in charge of keeping them in order. Do what you want."

"Do I have yer' go ahead, Captain?" Gemna asked him. The ardent glimmer in his eyes told Kakashi that he should not make Genma reconsider his tactic. Kakashi nodded. Genma sighed again, but in relief.

"This wax is one of the most undiluted and concentrated of its' kind. If I instruct your men to thrust this in their ears, it will make them less likely to fall prey to Rose Quartz, or any other Siren lurking around," Genma said, rubbing the wax pensively with his thumb.

"Are they going to be supplied with blindfolds as well? It is not just their song that beguiles them," Kakashi said with a sardonic tilt to his soft voice. He looked at the wax with mild derision. The fact that men were weak enough to fall for a woman's vocality made him deject.

"Aye, I'd thought about that, too. I ask you that I may be allowed to order them down to your cabin and lock the door while you, I, and Hidan stay above deck. They'll just rip the blindfolds off."

The ardent glimmer in his eyes seemed to shine more as he requested this. Genma did not wish to see any more senseless deaths. For his quartermaster's piece of mind, he nodded to him.

"With your permission, then, we will set out in a quarter past 5 o'clock."

* * *

It was at a quarter past 6 o'clock when he saw her. She was on her stomach atop a small rocky island. Her elbows were situated so that her breasts were pushed together, bound much too tightly together with coruscating crimson seashells.

Kakashi was expecting a dramatic, resplendent entrance. Perhaps a spring out of her ocean with the water splaying all around her, until she dove back down to begin her song. Instead, Rose Quartz lazily cradled her chin in her hand and examined his ship intently. Mayhaps it was the astronomical size of his ship and the colossal black masts that kept her from beginning her vocal assault. Or maybe it was Kakashi himself that kept her weighing her options, because when she caught sight of the captain, her eyes illuminated and she removed the palm from her chin.

This ship was the largest out of his hundreds of watercrafts traveling across the globe. It was intimidating to say the least; it was 1,100 feet long, and its' foremast, mizzenmast, and mainmast towered at just over 800 feet. It was constructed out of the finest steel and mahogany wood. Its' effectiveness in battle rivaled its' beautiful appearance, as this ship had never been hit or damaged by another water vessel. But Rose Quartz's gaze seemed not to be preoccupied by the ship rather that its' owner. The captain and Siren followed each other's gaze- one using binoculars until he was close enough to make her features out clearly with just his one naked eye. He placed the mechanism by his side.

Rose Quartz's eyes darted down to his attire and back up to his face many times as his ship drew nearer to her tiny island. Kakashi knew she was interested in his status as a captain, and that her prey was a high-roller which probably made it more exciting for her. He knew she would have to plan out her tactics more elaborately and carefully than if it was just a regular crew member.

It was obvious that Kakashi was Captain, and a paramount one at that. There were too many gold accolades adorning the right breast of his navy waistcoat for him to not be a preeminent one.

Though Kakashi was a pirate, many providences hailed him as a moral one. He only plundered those corrupt enough to hoard their riches away for themselves and he stole from those he saw unfit to rule themselves and a whole district. He defended the weaker, more principled towns against the corrupt water bandits littering the sea. He wore his prestigious, gold buttoned coat with pride and adjusted his golden epaulettes to see if her gaze shifted. It did.

The pure craving in her eyes told Kakashi that she wanted Captain blood to cascade through her waters.

To kill the captain would be to kill the rest of his crew.

Rose Quartz seemed to follow the 'two birds with one stone' philosophy.

Rose Quartz slipped down her smooth rocks with an alacrity that rivaled Kakashi's. Because of his positioning, Kakashi had never gotten to see her tail or fins or see if she even was a Siren at all. He did, however, catch an eyeful of roseate before she glided underneath her salty sea. The brilliant rosy glare that bounced off of the water before her watery departure were caused by the presence of scales. Kakashi had never, in all his days as a waterfarer, seen a hue so flaming from a sea creature.

The Siren plunged deep into the water until she was out of his sight. Kakashi motioned for Genma to enact his task. The quartermaster instructed all the men to stuff their ears full of the wax and gathered them all together to form a huddle. He and Hidan, the latter being a long lasting loyal and strong member of Kakashi's crew, pushed the men into the captain's cabin and locked it. Genma tested the robustness of the steel door by pulling on it. It seemed to be vigorous enough for his liking.

A deep, humming vibration near the ship occurred. It was a slow, throbbing build up that quaked the ship only enough that Kakashi's sharpened senses could detect. When it reached the climax of its' loudest purr, it halted precipitously and everything went deadly restrained.

The Siren started singing a few moments after the silence.

The first thing Kakashi noticed was that her words were not in English. They were Icelandic. This language originated from the West of the Land of Earth, where Huldras originated and ran rampant today. Kakashi now definitely knew he was dealing with a hybrid, so he reconsidered his tactics. He had read up on the weaknesses of both races before setting sail. He did not want to enter battle with this woman unprepared, no matter how superstitious the words he read were.

It was said in the books he held that to kill a Siren, he would have to impale her with a bronze dagger of sword coated with one of her victims. But it also said that a Siren's only weakness was the resistance of a man against her melody, that it would kill her if the man did not fall prey to her bewitching music. And Genma was living proof that that statement was false.

A Huldra's weakness, on the other hand, was simply akin to a human's. It was said that if one saw the cow or fox tail of the Huldra, they would immediately keel over and die. Again, another false statement, for this Huldra hybrid had the tail of a fish that she wasn't afraid to show.

With her pulchritudinous opera twining its' way through his ears, he knew he had to act fast.

Kakashi turned to see Genma and Hidan struggling. They had ample amounts of wax stuffed in their ears, but it was still not enough to escape Rose Quartz's vocals.

Her foreign, beautiful sounding words laced themselves around Kakashi.

Hidan was the most affected by her. He leisurely attempted to walk to the rail-guards of the ship but Genma restrained the man back. Hidan was far more sturdier and sinewy than his shipmate so he broke him off with ease. Kakashi was a match for Hidan in battle, but not for restraint. The captain was lithe with muscles, but was not brawny like Hidan. Kakashi preferred to carry a more slender and athletic figure to fit his life of captaincy better. Hidan's leisurely gate evolved into a full on sprint.

The man was going to jump to his death for Rose Quartz's Icelandic harmony.

Kakashi's sprint was far more swifter and nimble than his so he caught up to Hidan with ease. The captain grabbed the man by his wrist and threw him back, putting his own back to the vast sea behind him. Hidan tumbled to the hard, steel deck as a result of his captain's force.

This time, it was Kakashi whose wrist was grabbed.

Rose Quartz had lept out of her ocean at this sliver of opportunity with the captain's back towards her to take him by surprise. She propelled herself out of the sea with a great force that caused water to barrel onto the deck of Kakashi's ship and it frenzied Genma and Hidan. They both hollered for their captain, but it was too late.

She imprisoned Kakashi's other wrist, used her long tail to push off of the walls of the ship, and trawled the captain with her to the sea below.

Kakashi took his time in the air to break free of the seductress' death grip and flip around to shove his thumbs into the two pressure points of her throat. In their descent, he flipped her around so that her back would hit the water hard enough to break something. It was Kakashi on top of her now. Rose Quartz tried to use her extensive, wine colored tail to wrap around his ankles and put her on top of him. She failed because of the captain's pre-planning- seconds before she attempted to execute this tactic, he clutched the fins decorating her tails, extended his arm back, and catapulted her down to the water.

This was only buying him time, however.

Once he landed into the water, it was her territory.

It was her game the second the water touched his body.

 _ **a/n: yeehawww first chapter out of the way. now we can get to face to face kakasaku**_

 _ **reviews and everything else are very welcome! i need to know if you guys like this plot and my writing style.**_

 _ **oh yeah and i don't own any of the characters nor am i making a profit off of this ofc. story cover image link is**_

 _ **search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS767US767 &biw=1920&bih=974&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=1FfdWpO7IausjwT5pZyADg&q=siren+with+pink+hair&oq=siren+with+pink+hair&gs_l=psy-ab.3...1187.3129.0.3..1142.1j4j2.7.0...0...1c.1. -ab..8.4.634...0j0i67k1.0.P1TNKef9qVE#imgrc=sJvGH_mwBKmKnM:**_

 _ **isn't it pretty af**_


	2. Siren's World

_**Chapter 2:**_

 _ **a/n: will kakakshi get violently slaughtered? stay tuned to find out**_

 _ **all feedback is appreciated and considered yet again my dear readers. thank you guys so much for all the support from chapter 1. i love reading every single word and every favorite and follow, everything! it means so much to me that you would take time out of your day for a humble writer like me.**_

 _ **Siren's World**_

Kakashi punctured through the water's expanse like a bullet through soft skin- expeditiously and with ease. He dove headfirst to ensure a swift recovery underwater, which couldn't be said of the Siren whirl-winding around him. He had forced her to land ungracefully on her side, because upon her arrival, the ocean produced a harsh, slapping noise. A sound akin to that was the sound of some bones breaking or a severe fracture occurring. It had undoubtedly wounded her to some degree. To what degree the captain didn't know, but once he and the Siren began their watery combat, it was clear where the damage had occurred.

Kakashi opened his one working eye to survey his bewitching combatant's physical condition. The saltwater prickled his eye at first, but if he were to triumph in this fight, his body would need to adjust quickly. The man immediately made a vexing discovery; upon his collision into the sea, his eye patch was nowhere to be found. The captain's heavy landing had caused it to dislodge itself. No doubt the patch was gravitating towards the ocean floor.

Kakashi had more significant things to worry about, however.

Rose Quartz undoubtedly still soared through the water like an aquatic aerialist, but Kakashi's one astute eye distinguished a subtle oddity in her graceful movements. The left side of her tail fin, or fluke as he had further read about last night, appeared to maneuver with some struggle. It was allusively out of tune with the rest of her fluid movements. During their battle, the silver haired captain elected to get her into critical positions where her left fluke would be open to his assaults. He needed all of the leverage he could attain in this foreign battlefield. The man drew his silver cutlass out of his holster strapped to his black breeches as he hovered in the deep blue sea.

Normally, Kakashi would use a rapier to battle. He was accustomed to the weapon's polished motions; the front forward stabbing dynamic paired well with its' straight make, and it made it easy to bring down foes with a simple heart or chest impale. It was a debonair and very effective weapon many sailors opted to not use because it was harder to master. It was an armament for nobles with time on their hands and an advanced instructor by their side.

However, the captain could not use his rapier this time. Underwater brawling was a whole different battlefield . Thrusting forward with a rapier would be a toilsome movement that would barely reap any reward. The water surrounding him would not allow for a strong piercing if he had stabbed forward, and would most likely get him killed.

Kakashi's cutlass was curved which made it better fit for the water, as it could swipe through it with ease. The cutlass could imitate and follow along with the water's buoyancy.

With his weapon out and his knees bent slightly in front of him, he was ready to begin.

The handsome man was not worried about the lack of air he would have as Rose Quartz ringed around him, observing him quietly and with no expression on her face. With him taking on the role of captain, it wasn't unusual that he had trained himself for worst case scenarios on a ship. He inculcated in himself to have durable lungs in order to withstand long periods of time underwater, as this was a prime example of the aforementioned scenario. It would be ideal for him, nonetheless, to take any given opportunity to seize a mouthful of air before being inevitably dragged back down to the depths below by the Siren.

The pair's eyes did not gravitate towards anything else but each other. Green forest clashed harshly with midnight in a mental game meant to buy Rose Quartz time until Kakashi had to spring up for more air. He did not falter when she sparked forward abruptly to see how he would react. She seemed to be pleased with his composed feedback.

But something in her irradiated green eyes changed.

She began to drift towards him slowly and gingerly, her elbows bent but her arms still stretched out to him. With her roseate hair cascading up to the heavens above and the sun's rays surging through the strands, she parted her lips slightly to commence in a quiet melody for Kakashi. The music coming from Rose Quartz's mouth was not garbled as one would expect it to be underwater; it was precise and immaculate. Although the captain could not decipher the words, he was still slightly transfixed. Resisting the charms of a Siren's song was particularly more demanding when they were face to face and she was drifting towards him. Kakashi's fingers tautly enclosed around the hilt of his cutlass. He needed to stop her before Hidan tried something again. Genma couldn't keep him at bay forever.

They were soon close enough for striking distance. Rose Quartz's eyes lit up as Kakashi slashed through the water elegantly, as if she were surprised. Kakashi knew that this was only a temporary deterrent- he only needed her to cease her singing. He also knew that it was an amateur move on his part, but again, it was only serving as a deterrent for the time being. He dashed forward with his whole body this time around when he saw that she was caught off guard, taking a swing at her left fluke before she coursed away swiftly only to appear behind him. The captain arched his back and nimbly flipped in the water to face her and deflect her attack. Her weapon of choice was her long, roseate, scaled tail. It nearly collided with his jaw until he grabbed her fluke and dug his cutlass into it. With a loud hiss, she whipped it away. A delicate trail of red coursed after her fluke as she moved away from Kakashi .

The texture of her scales was oddly supple and velvety. He had touched Siren scales before, but all of them were impenetrable, very hard to break. They acted as armor to the Siren. When she was dead, he needed to figure out what kind of hybrid she was, because this trait was very abnormal.

Rose Quartz generated a water fueled whirlwind around the captain to distract him. It didn't distract him, however, but she was still able to wrap her tail around both of his ankles and drag him under. The dying rays of sunlight grew further and further away as he was lowered into the oceanic abyss of the Siren's world. He couldn't bend over and slash at her; she was far too swift and strong. The water pressure and the current wouldn't allow him to.

Because she couldn't overpower him with sheer force, she opted to drown him. She planned to get him to a level where swimming up would be futile; his lungs would give out before he could reach the surface. Kakashi knew the clock was ticking, so he needed to act fast before he reached that level.

He arched his foot, tensed his muscular calves, and slipped out of his long, knee length, cavalier boots. The lack of weight caused Rose Quartz to turn around, a bewildered look plastered on her beautiful features. With his cutlass still in hand, as he hadn't dropped it when being dragged down, he used all of his brawn and might to commit some serious damage to her tail so she wouldn't be able to swim as gracefully. He aimed for her already damaged left fluke and sliced it spot on. The thin trail of blood streaming from her fluke now altered into a thick path of violent crimson. The smell of iron was bound to beckon to the hungry sea creatures littering the waters, which was exactly what the captain wanted.

He began to swim to the surface where he could get some much needed air. Rose Quartz was too preoccupied with her bloody laceration to hunt him down. The Siren needed to apply great pressure to it, otherwise she would bleed out quickly. In addition, the saltwater would not help the healing process.

With great, superlative strokes of his arms, Kakashi soon reached the surface. He popped his head up and inhaled the sweet, fresh air. His sopping silver hair adhered to his forehead and depressed into his eyes. After breathing an appropriate amount of oxygen, he dove back under. It surprised his crew-mates on his ship. Rose Quartz had caused their battle to transition far, far away from Kakashi's large ship, and now that his mates knew where he was, they were going to make a direct beeline towards their captain.

Kakashi wanted to see his opponent bleed out, or he needed to finish the job. He couldn't allow a creature like that to continue living. The man dove back under. He immediately noticed Rose Quartz had evanesced from her previous position and was nowhere to be found. He also had noticed that there was a titanic shark swimming upwards towards him with a depraved look in his empty, beady eyes. There was a diluted red color drifting in his peripheral, and he immediately came to the conclusion that Rose Quartz's jagged flippers had purposefully slashed through the ankle of his boot to draw some semblance of blood. It didn't matter the amount; a huge and feral ocean creature like this could detect any volume of blood from many miles away.

He silently damned the bedeviling Siren.

The shark swam deliberately towards the captain. There was no use in defending himself, really, because of his positioning. The giant mouth of the beast could enclose Kakashi's whole body easily. The captain would need to act sprightly to execute his mental plan of survival. He readied himself and waited at the tip of water and air. The great white shark opened his large, gaping maw, and this was when the captain acted.

The silver haired man managed to balance on the tip of the shark's nose with his bare left foot, springing up out of the water in doing so. Kakashi planted his other foot on the tip and bent both knees. With the gravity of air on his side as opposed to the water, he dove down back into the water, aiming to grab ahold of the shark's monumental dorsal fin. As he entered the water, he breast stroked until he was at the shark's back. He accomplished the feat; he dug his nails into the fin, and held on even with the shark's watery thrashing. The shark violently writhed to get the man off but to no avail. His death grip was far too strong.

To let go of the shark would be to compromise his life. His grip had to be the strongest it had ever been in his life.

It seemed like hours passed by before the sun disappeared, overshadowed by his huge ship from underneath the water. It had only been 2 minutes. Kakashi was dying for a breath of fresh air. The adrenaline from his situation had taken more out of him; usually Kakashi could go without oxygen for 8 minutes plus.

The men aboard Kakashi's ship knew better than to attempt to harpoon the sea creature. The spear could smoothly pierce the captain on the shark's back if not aimed properly, and with their submergence under the water, who knew where the spear would land? Water was one of the biggest accuracy kills in the pirate's world.

A ladder was fleetly cast down from atop the ship. It fell through the water and almost striked the shark in the snout. With only a few seconds to act and one second to precisely grab the fourth rung of the ladder, the rung that was peeking out of the water, Kakashi relinquished his handclasp on the beast's dorsal fin. He leapt for the eighth rung. He could feel the beast tearing down the ladder as he ascended. The ladder was promptly torn down; it began to crash down back into the murky depths. Kakashi could hear the entirety of his crew above him screaming, hollering for him to jump up to them. That they would catch him if his leap to them was great enough.

With the ladder now completely sunken, Kakashi had no choice but to jump. A notch in his ship, put only there for cosmetic purposes, saved his life. Two notches, actually, as Kakashi grabbed one with his fingers and placed his bare foot in the other one. The notches were small and he could not hold this forever. Another ladder, a smaller one meant for cleaning the sides, was thrown deftly his way.

As he mounted over the edgings of the ship, he was met with a clamber of applause. Even though he had not killed the Siren, he had performed a near impossubke feat and had saved Hidan's life by almost sacrificing his own.

Many had also reassured him and others around them that the blood loss the Siren was going through currently would be enough to strike her dead. That through Kakashi's description of his battle, there was no way Rose Quartz could still possibly be alive.

* * *

Two indignant, enraged, impassioned, _furious_ eyes watched the ship coast away.

The setting moon and its' avalanching darkness did nothing to hide the revulsion for Kakashi in Rose Quartz's jade infused eyes.

Forgetting the other amateur pirates and sailors the crossed into her ocean, she would come to focus on only one man now.

 _ **a/n: my gosh it's been so long i am so sorry**_

 _ **school finals and summer and relationship have taken over my life. that and a good ol' hefty case of writer's block.**_

 _ **i am in awe of the support i receieved from the first chapter. seriously, does anyone feel just like, elated, when they get a notification someone loves or follows or reviews their story? like fuck dude man. it's crazy how much my mood and will to write just ramps up**_

 _ **anyways i love y'all and i hope y'all aren't mad at me for postponing this story**_

 _ **enjoy~**_


	3. Anchored

_**Chapter 3:**_

 _ **a/n: third chapter folks owo**_

 _ **Anchored**_

A few days later, two delicate fingers and a thumb twirled a black eye-patch around carefully. After examining every side of it- the part that touched the eye, the front of it, the string that wound latch around the ear or head of the wearer- she made several observations. The user of the piece of clothing was suffering from a debilitating eye infection. Even though it had been submerged under her water for more than 48 hours, a thick sheet of disease (crusts, scabs, yellow infectious discharge) was apparent on the side that plastered onto the eye.

The captain's eye-patch fluttered down to a reef near her home sometime after their fight. It fastened itself to a large and serrated coral branch, and the Siren had just pioneered it. Her first instinct was to rip it apart, shred it into a hundred pieces and scatter it across her ocean. But upon closer surveillance (and the inquisitive sniffs of a few sharks who meandered by), she was curious as to what kind of infection had plagued him. If he was that well and calculated in a fight under the water, an arena definitely unfit for a human man, the disease must not be that toxic or life threatening.

Sakura clutched the eye-patch and looked down at her damaged tail. She wished that it hurt more than her pride.

It didn't.

Using her fingers to tug the brown porphyra seaweed shawled over her lacerated tail, she surveilled the damage done by the captain. It wasn't as bad as when she checked it yesterday, she was sure of that. No more fresh blood was clinging to the seaweed- it was now old and brown. The Siren made the decision to venture out again and retrieve more healing water plants and inks for her wound.

Sirens had a connatural way of healing swiftly and without error, but the grey haired man had really done numbers on the surface beneath her scales, on the soft velvety tail underneath, with his sharp weapon. He plunged the sword deep into her plating, almost far enough to come out of the other side. It wasn't a wound that would heal quickly, even with her kind's uncanny rejuvenation powers. The side of her body that ungracefully collided into the water when the captain hurled her down there by her tail would heal quickly, however. A few fractures were nothing to a Siren.

As Sakura wafted out of the deep sea cave she made her home at, its' top pervaded with so much coral, kelp, and anemones that its' opening was hard to see if one did not look closely, she was met with familiar purple eyes and a fanged frown. It appeared that the man that possessed these attributes was about to come into her home uninvited. It was his right to do so, after all. They were bound to be engaged in a few weeks.

Sakura attempted to go around him, but to no avail. She was in no mood to talk about her crushing defeat with that silver haired captain, nor would she ever be. Her wrist was aptly captured by Suigetsu. Her waist was also captured by his arm; in just a few seconds, she was being held bridle style by the man. Suigetsu swished his long tail calmly in the water, content on staying there until she fought back like she usually did. It was custom of her. The Siren had always wanted to be self-ruling, to be separate from all the rest. It was a crucial flaw that had her tail carved up like that currently.

Sakura crossed her arms and Suigetsu simpered. Sakura knew damn well that if she were to fight back and thrash it would prolong her healing process. She could rupture more veins and arteries that were already suffering in her tail. So she allowed herself to be carried by the man through the twists and turns of their underwater city, and then outside of their civilization to a little place always rife with fresh outgrowth and produce. No words were spoken during the terse travel until they arrived.

"I was going to take Kisame. I didn't need you," Sakura said shortly.

He let her go gently (which was very unaccustomed of him, Sakura thought mildly to herself), and she shook off his touch and regained her pride. Suigetsu's eyes hurtled down to her scaly lower half and then back up. He shook his head and began questioning her.

He commenced his interrogation by angrily asking her why she went alone, which pirate member did it to her, what province did the ship's sails belong to.

"I've went alone every single time, and nothing bad has ever happened to me."

"The captain with the silver hair, mask, and eye-patch did this."

"They belonged to Konoha."

Suigetsu slammed his fist down on the rocks surrounding the little garden. Sakura would get her herbs from here to treat the citizens of their city, and would catch the squids and octopuses littering around the area to ink them. She would hybridize the two substances into a curative elixir or philter for her people. Unofficially, she was the doctor of their metropolitan society. Everyone would come to her door asking her for advice pertaining their maladies (that their natural healing talent couldn't fix quickly). They would then follow up their queries with asking if she could treat them.

She had never had to use any of her mixtures on herself until now.

Sakura heard Suigetsu take a deep breath from behind her as she circled the garden looking for more porphyra seaweed.

"That was Kakashi Hatake, Sakura. Do you know who that is?" Suigetsu quizzed harshly. When he was met with no answer, he seized her wrist in the midst of her porphyra plucking. He was met with a frozen stare and a retracting of her wrist. Water bubbles rose up from the unexpected and abrupt movement.

"He's just a man I want to kill. Nothing more, nothing less," was Sakura's snappy retort. She continued harvesting the plants, turning away from Suigetsu. He grabbed her by the shoulders this time.

"This isn't just your average man, Sak'. This isn't your average victim. I admire your dedication to your personal cause of killing all these pathetic sailors. I like to kill too. But there are times when you can go too far; sometimes you can meet your match." Suigetsu drifted in front of her, his violet eyes silently imploring her to hear him out. He successfully caught her attention with this and continued.

"He's one of the best captains, he's killed a few of our Sirens. He owns a lot of the vessels and owns may of the men you've killed. I'm not exaggerating about his prowess in battle. He's too influential of a target," Suigetsu said. His eyes softened as Sakura lowered her harvest by the webbed belt underneath her bellybutton, symbolizing that she was finally listening to him.

"To kill a captain would be to weaken their whole system," Sakura said to her partner, "and if he's as influential as you're making him out to be, once he's down, the sailors will be easier to kill. Everything would be less risky without Kakashi Hatake around. Less filthy sailors in this world will do it some good."

Suigetsu circled around his future mate smoothly, his lengthy albino fins propelling him along softly. He assisted Sakura in picking her plants but began speaking again, to which Sakura blew out a huff of water. A large assemblage of bubbles ascended to the sky, to the sun's dying rays. It was almost nighttime.

"I'm going with you next time," he told her directly. He wasn't going to sugarcoat his command. He wasn't going to ask for her permission. This was an order.

Sakura responded with a little laugh along with a head shake. With a hand now on her hip and some seaweed in the other, she moved her chin upward to meet his authoritarian gaze.

"I don't know who you think you're talking to, but it's certainly not Sakura Haruno."

* * *

The night before she went out to kill him, she studied his eye-patch some more. She decided it wasn't a viral infection, but rather a bacterial one. A pathological one. It was mostly caused by the saltwater amoebas that littered the waters, as Kakashi probably spent many hours in the water without proper protection. She ruled out glaucoma and cataracts and other diseases similar to that; Kakashi Hatake looked old, but not old enough for his eye to wear down quickly enough for those illnesses to pervade.

Usually sailors would suffer from the typical scurvy, typhus (rat related diseases included), and hypertension. Not many sailors would spend much time in water, believe it or not, preferring to stay on board to operate the heavy machinery in the sail room and look over the ship's shot. Even the sea captain wouldn't take up too much time in the water. He would overlook and superintend everything on the ship from making crew-changes in port and accounting to responding to hijackers and killing other wayfarers to keep his crew safe.

So Kakashi Hatake spent many of his hours submerged in water. She knew that much from her examination of his eye patch.

Sakura waded furtively through the moonlit saltwater. The Siren had staked out Kakashi Hatake's ship for some time, about a week give or take, and memorized their patterns. More specifically, the silver haired captain's patterns. However, it was advantageous to know the habits and rituals of his crew members just in case something went awry in her assassination. They were to be docked in the Land of Earth and leave back to their home town, Konoha, in the morning. Sakura had opted to choose their last night as her time to strike because many of Kakashi's crew mates would be out drinking and reveling in Earth's local bars before departing, as opposed to normally sleeping soundly in their cabin for the night.

Sailors were always an uproarious, annoying bunch. Always exasperating and overstaying their welcome.

Kakashi Hatake could be made into an exception. From what she had seen for the past few days, he was a reticent and reserved man in speech. He acted with absolute jurisdiction, never breaking in character. He said what needed to be said and went on his way. She was not sure if it was arrogance that induced him to act this way or if it was just a natural reserved composition. She made bets on the former because every captain was the same.

Upon reaching the shores of Earth , she planted her elbows on the sandy banks. Tranquil ocean waves licked at her rosey fins, lapping all the way up to her waist. The foam from the water gurgled and dissipated as her scrupulous eyes watched Kakashi's already half drunk faction careen to the next bar closest to them. She recognized the bar; Ichiraku's.

Her mother used to go there all the time. She would never bring anything back for Sakura or her father, though.

It wasn't like they could go there with her, either.

Sakura dredged a hole into the watery sand with her flippers, becoming more and more infuriated watching Kakashi's crew wobble to and fro from the sidewalk and the street. They were having trouble opening (and reaching out and touching) the wooden flip doors of Ichiraku's. Their inebriated clamor made the sandy hole she was digging deeper and deeper. After finally succeeding in stumbling inside, Sakura decided to make her move.

The crater in the sand was all she left indicative of her presence. She was a master of the water, a stealthy aquatic acrobat. Sakura made no noise as she used her slender hands to push herself back into the sea without a splash. After glissading underneath the water undetected, Sakura's night trained eyes looked for the small opening that lead to a beautiful little lake in the middle of the Land of Earth. The fresh body of water was besieged by a variety of nature; apple trees, grapevines, and cherry orchards were littered around the lake. Colossal pine trees offered adept cover for this undersized area. There were so many pine trees in the Land of Earth that nobody bothered to infiltrate them, thinking that nothing important could be buried deep within.

Kakashi Hatake would spend his nights here, and sometimes his mornings. Before he would have to take account of all the possessions and stock and order his men around, he would lie on the sandy banks of this lake, cross his arms behind his head, and close his eyes. If Sakura could execute this assassination perfectly, it would almost be too easy. He was easily within striking distance once she was close enough. And she wouldn't even have to rise above the water much.

The aperture in the Land of Earth that served as a convoy to the lake was almost so minuscule one couldn't fit through. However, Sakura had every jagged rock and single string of kelp around the hole memorized to know exactly where it was.

Her father would dig his elbows into the shoreline waiting for Sakura's mother here. It was a little ironic, to say the least, that the place she had been conceived at was the spot she would kill at.

With a silver dagger, personally crafted by one of her city's only blacksmiths for her, strapped around her waist, the Siren dove down and slipped through Earth's crevice that lead to where Kakashi was. The tunnel almost swallowed her whole; this pathway was an excellent cure to ridding claustrophobia. She would be lying if she said she hadn't ever turned around and swam back a fourth of the way through out of fear for drowning, even though she could breathe underwater forever. It was a silly fear, but the watery subway was so asphyxiating that she thought she would die sometimes.

After a few minutes of paddling through the underpass, she reached the middle of the hole where it ended and gave way to the rest of the freshwater lake. Sakura moved deliberately, drawing her dagger without making bubbles pop to the surface of the water. Sakura's fins had never moved more softer. As she escalated closer and closer to the air, she heard a rustling noise. It moved away quick.

She peeped her head above the water, just enough for her eyes to be seen. The moon camouflaged itself behind the colossal trees embellishing the perimeter of Earth's lake. Nobody could see her. Sakura's trained, nocturnal eyes looked all around her; first her front and then to her left. She saw that Captain Hatake's bare feet were immersed in the water as she faced to the left. Upon closer inspection, she saw that the man's eyes were closed. His mask was off and bunched under his chin and an eye patch was lazily sprawled to his side.

Forgetting her personal mission for a few seconds, she observed his infected eye closer than she did when they were battling. She waded closer and closer through the water, being careful to not make one sound. The area around the corrupted eye was raised a little bit which indicated that it was inflamed. Suppuration oozed from the eye along with a scant amount of blood; it looked so harrowing that Sakura could base an educational conclusion that the eye had been ripped out once before. A botched transplant could be the cause of the exudation.

Sailors were never good doctors or surgeons.

Sakura arrived at the bank and lied in between his spread, outstretched legs. She rose up and planted her left palm into the sand, bending her tail for a little more leverage to raise her left arm up for a harder puncture and swifter strike.

Kakashi Hatake opened his one functioning eye to meet her resentful ones. He didn't even unfurl his arms from behind his mass of sterling hair, nor did he attempt to move away from her. His gaze was even lazy; it was half lidded, emanating _indifference_ to the situation Sakura had put themselves in. Sakura was taken aback as she hovered over him.

Shocking Sakura served as a perfect ruse for Kakashi to snatch the dagger out of her hand and to pin the Siren down on the sand.

This time, it was a foreign arena for her.

It was his game the moment the crisp night air hit her body.

 _ **a/n: hopefully updating this story a few days later will make up for going like two months in between the first and second chapter**_

 _ **the reviews and feedback i'm getting for this story are phenomenal :)))) i write for you guys. thank you so so much**_

 _ **i'm torn between given you guys 2,500-3,000 word chapters and just giving y/all straight up a 10,000+ word one. i don't know which you guys prefer, so if you could take a little time to tell me which one is preferred that would b c**_

 _ **keep in mind the 10,000 word one would take longer to put up so that's why i'm a lil' hesitant**_

 _ **i love y'all 3**_


	4. Binded

**_Chapter 4:_**

 ** _a/n: wowee chapter 4 comin' in hot_**

 ** _Binded_**

Kakashi had known somewhere in the back of his mind that Rose Quartz would make a move on him (if she was still alive that was), but this soon was stupefying to him. He thrusted his cutlass deep enough into her to kill. The amount of blood she would lose, especially combined with the prickling salt water filtering through her wound, would surely be fatal to her. The man had read his fair share of anecdotal publications and factual volumes about the physical regeneration prowess of a Siren, but he had no idea Rose Quarts would heal this quickly.

He imagined that the Siren would stake him out while he was docked at Earth. There were many vantage points surrounding the island, from large scaled rocks protruding out of the ocean to hidden sandy shoals. He had never seen a Siren use a bow and arrow as their lifestyle was in opposition to the craft. But if one was set on set on killing another, they would take up any means necessary to do that.

The captain was also shocked she would choose to confront him on land. Albeit her tail was still in the water slightly, she was almost powerless on the shore where he pinned her down on. She could not get up and run, she could not tackle him down, she could not dodge his attacks. Rose Quartz had nothing on land. It was a bold move, to be sure, and for a moment he felt a sense of pity for the woman. She was willing to risk everything to see him dead. The sense of pity was paltry enough for it to go unnoticed by Kakashi as he slammed his knee down into the lower area of her body to prevent her sharp fins from whipping into the back of his exposed calves.

He could tell from his knee's position that her scales were delicate. His knee sunk into her tail a tiny amount, creating a smooth indentation. It was almost on par with soft human skin. The scales offered her no armored plating to withstand attacks like all the other Sirens he encountered had.

The Siren wrestled get her razor fins into some part of the captain. Kakashi elongated the leg that was on Rose Quartz' tail and dug his foot into her tapered fins to halt the action. He immobilized her even further by fastening his hands around her wrists tighter and tighter, until blood flow was almost cut off. She hissed in pain at the sudden loss of circulation. The woman's dagger had long ago been thrown to the right of them so Kakashi could have full preeminence with his hands over her. Another weapon of its' kind was holstered to his thigh, affixed onto a brown leather strap. All he needed to do was be swift enough to draw it before she could slither back into the water.

Sakura felt disgusted that Kakashi Hatake had his hands enclosed around her wrists like this. She wished he would just kill her already and get everything over with. To think that she would die by a faction she had sworn to atrophy, and hopefully eradicate in the process, was pathetic and wretched. She felt the burning fingers of humiliation stifle her, enclosing around her throat as they looked at each other. However, the man was not moving to strike, or moving at all aside from digging his toes painfully into her fins. In fact, he seemed just as curious in her as she was in his infected eye.

She was not putting up a fight. There was nothing that a Siren could do while she was on land, especially with Kakashi restraining her like this. The captain was far more stronger than she was in her water, so what was he capable of doing while on his own land? She awaited her own dissolution without a word, her gaze drifting over to his infected eye. He took note of this gaze.

Kakashi had a knack for reading people through their eyes, and the look in her gemstone ones told him that she was ashamed, not scared. She did not fear her own death. She was only embarrassed of her defeat. The scant amount of Sirens he destroyed had no such gaze in their eyes; they all feared for their life, fighting for their last breath at his hands. Rose Quartz was an honorable opponent, knowing that she had botched her assassination attempt on the captain by being too careless. She faced her aspirant with shame filled eyes, albeit they were still defiant. It was a gripping juxtaposition of emotions, and before he plunged his dagger into her throat, he wanted to know more about her.

It was unlike him to do this. But Rose Quartz had nowhere to go, and he wanted to test a theory that Sirens would wither away and die without water. Nobody had actualized this claim, and it would be conducive to know in the future.

He caught her gaze and offered to her their first words between one another.

"Can you speak English? The song you sang to me was in a different language," Kakashi asked her softly, calibrating her reaction to him. He got a small sneer in reaction to his query.

She flipped her head the other way, to the right, to look at her dagger buried in the sand. She exposed her long neck and collarbones to him and nodded towards the weapon.

"Just kill me," was her curtailed response. It did answer his question, at least.

Her speaking voice was as beautiful as he expected. The lifts and dips in tone, the feminine ambiance it carried, and the petite vibrato that rode the sound waves of her voice were all alluring to him. Never had he been as magnetized to a woman's voice as he had to this one. And he had only heard three words from her.

"In time. Are you that quick to die by the hand of a sailor?" he said to her. She craned her neck to the left to look at him. She knew the captain was fishing for a reaction. She knew he was trying to figure out her motives before he ended her life. No doubt he wanted to see if there were any more of her kind in the sea, dedicating their time to shipwrecking and killing his sailors. It was obvious that she held a grudge against the water-faring band by the reaction he drew out of her. Rage fabricated in her eyes, quickly replacing the shame that clouded over them earlier.

Sakura closed her eyes and composed herself before offering him a retort.

"A captain," Sakura said to Kakashi, not wanting to give too much information out to him.

"Leader of sailors," Kakashi answered, "so in essence, it is worse."

"With all of your men I've killed, I might as well have just killed you. I've damaged your battalion beyond repair," the Siren spoke smoothly. Her words glided off her tongue and twirled into Kakashi's ears.

Kakashi regarded her challenging eyes with a small smile. The seriousness of the situation and the truthfulness of her statement aside, the creature was shrewd and witty. He breathed in the stimulating night air, loosening his death grip on Rose Quartz' wrists. He did not relinquish his knee and foot from her tail, however.

"It's nothing I can't recover from, Siren," the captain continued, "but you, however, have not recovered from something. Tell me, what have my sailors done to you? Stolen from you? Killed a human friend?"

Sakura looked up at him inquisitively. It was bold of him to assume that she wasn't just doing this for sport and fun, as Sirens were always detailed as malicious creatures in novels and rumors anyways.

"My rationale is none of your concern, Captain. Since when did my intentions become an object of your interest?" Sakura said. Her long, wet hair unfurled more from the way she jolted her head forward to meet his finally. Sakura added onto her statement.

"I have destroyed hundreds of your ships, killed thousands of your men. This is reason enough to stop questioning me and end my life."

"Yes. But I'm not blinded by rage like you are."

Sakura's eyes radiated hate for this man. With his quick comebacks and cleverly worded statements, he was baiting her into telling him what he wanted; her intentions. Why was she exerting all of her time and effort into murdering sailors who had not targeted her, and were simply on their way to the nearest dock?

"I'm not an open book," Sakura shredded out through gritted teeth, "and there's more than meets the eye."

"We can both relate to that," Kakashi said simply, "but if you are about to die, what is stopping you?"

After the captain said this, her gaze drifted once-more to his corrupted eye. He was cognizant of this switch in focus.

"Would you like to trade your life for healing my eye?" Kakashi abruptly asked the Siren. He had not put much thought into his deal and said it in the curiosity of the moment. He would follow through if she was willing, though. His eye had been plaguing him for decades. No doctor in the integral parts of the world he had traversed thus far was able to properly fix the optical organ. Many hours were spent on a doctoring chair, leaning back, and staring at a scalpel, only to find a few moments later blood was gushing down his face and pooling in his collarbone concavity. The doctors he frequented had done more harm than good.

Sirens had superb, even supernatural, healing aptitude. The tail he had plunged his cutlass into was fully healed. Maybe she could translate whatever ability she possessed to that part of his body.

Rose Quartz' expression altered from anger to disgust. She shook her head.

"I would die before helping a man like you. And that isn't a metaphor," she spit out.

The water droplets on her body coruscated in the moonlight, dripping down from the small gills on her neck into the crimson seashells adorning her chest. They made their way down to the flare of her hips where the webbing of her tail began. Just then was he reminded completely that he was trying to make a deal with a wild creature.

He pinned both of her wrists down with one large hand and extracted the dagger attached to his waist. He drew his arm up and made the attempt on her life before she spoke again, moving her head away from the weapon seconds before it struck her neck.

"I will comply. I fear death," the Siren said to him. He halted his weapon and it hovered right near her jugular vein.

Kakashi looked at Rose Quartz. This creature did not fear death in any way, shape, or form. A flicker of something the man could not place dashed across the ashamed glitter in her eyes, before they just settled on the latter completely. With the dagger still braced in his palm, he lowered it to the sand by her head. Kakashi spoke.

"Siren, you do not fear death. You only fear by whom you die by."

Kakashi released her wrists, being cautious to keep the pressure caused by his knee and foot on her tail and fins.

"But I will call your bluff."

* * *

Kakashi carried her bridal style to his immense ship. No words were spoken between the two of them on the short journey. The air wasn't tense for Kakashi, but he could sense from the Siren's physical posture that she was anything but comfortable. Her lithe tail swayed with each step he took, and he was careful to avoid bumping into her fins. In fact, his peripheral vision was constantly focusing on them. They were the most dangerous weapon she had built into her. Aside from her voice.

He needed to take her to a private area so she could begin the healing process. His men would not tolerate his relationship with the Siren now, even if it was a mutual agreement and he was getting something paramount from it. The captain was prudent to take a route that would bypass his crew. It was a little past midnight and they were already inebriated beyond comprehension, but he was no risk taker.

But he was a risk taker. He held in his arms a vicious and lethal Siren. He was currently in possession of an enchanted being who made an attempt on his life not even an hour prior. A spellbinding monster who would not hesitate to kill him if she obtained the chance, and lured thousands of men to their watery graves through her song. Kakashi was not a foolish man; he knew she was only doing this so she could get close to him without the physical restriction of his hands against her slender wrists.

Kakashi looked down at the half woman, half fish in his arms. She appeared to have no difficulty breathing for an extended period of time in the air, simply inhaling and exhaling through her nose now instead of through the gills gracing the sides of her neck. Her tail was dry now, but the water had not completely evaporated. There was a tint of moisture to it in its' place.

He figured she would have said something if there would have been complications keeping her above water for a while.

As he treaded across the sandy beach up onto the grasslands where the drawbridge of his ship was lain across, his one good eye slanted towards a movement in the town. It was Genma, and he was quickly approaching (for how impaired a man was, Genma could move briskly). The stumble in his gait and the way he held onto the banisters of the dock told both Rose Quartz and Kakashi that he had had one too many at Ichiraku's.

Without a word, the silver haired captain increased his pace to the drawbridge of his vessel. They were both approaching each other quickly, but thanks to the large orb in the sky being hazed over by clouds, Genma could not see the two clearly. The sailor's vision was unquestionably blurred and doubled by now, which added onto his cover.

Kakashi entered his ship with Rose Quartz, who was trying not to lean into his chest. This made it difficult to keep a proper homeostasis between the two of them while he was walking. He drew the bridge up, but knew he would have to hide the Siren regardless because of Genma's unshakable nature. When his friend was tipsy, Kakashi would always be the one he would come to to talk and revel in. He would come knocking eventually.

The man caught the creature's gaze and put an index finger to his lips. Rose Quartz tipped her head in question in response to his unsaid command. The ship was hushed, aside from the quiet creaking of it floating on the water. There was no stirring in the main deck or the forecastle right next to it; no signs of life could be found on this grandiose ship besides the subdued breaths of both Sakura and Kakashi. What was he telling her to be quiet for? Kakashi placed the Siren on his bed, earning a disapproving glare from the latter, and arranged his blankets all around her so that her face and hair were covered.

A knock sounded at the door and resonated throughout the extensive captain's cabin. Sakura's roseate fins still peeked out of the blankets and Kakashi promptly fixed that, being sure to tuck the bottom edges underneath her fins. He cared not if the blankets became shredded in the process as Gemna's knocks grew steadier, faster, and louder.

The Siren examined the captain's walking body as he traversed to the wooden opening of the ship where the knocks were sounded at. He moved with a refinement and grace that was very contradictory to all the other captains she had seen, much less any sailor she had come across. The dimmed fashion of his gait was careful and smooth; he was careful not to clunk heavily on the floor, even with the heavy boots he donned tonight.

As soon as the intruder was heard greeting him, Sakura ducked her head further underneath the covers. The voice was friendly and slurred. Sakura guessed it was the man who approached the captain earlier, since it seemed like the man was headstrong in talking to him tonight.

The man in question elbowed past Kakashi and invited himself into the captain's cabin. Kakashi made no move to halt the action and even seemed to let the man make himself at home. The Siren remained as silent and unmoving as a mouse hiding from a cat while the man plopped himself down on a wooden stool. If bad came to worse, and if the man approached her, she would lash her tail out and slit his throat. He made no notice of her, however, as he rambled to Kakashi about nonsensical topics through his hazy speech patterns.

"Ka-ka, when is the las' time you got laid?' the sailor maundered on, right after he asked if Kakashi had seen the Ichiraku's bartender's rear end prior. Sakura heard Kakashi's soft pace come towards her. He arrived at the ending of the bed, and, Sakura assumed, looked towards his sailor and nodded.

The conversation stalled and Genma looked around. The bed was semi-hidden from view from his position; a ridge of wooden wall concealed a good part of the bed. The sailor's double vision focused on a dip in the blanket followed by many other curves. Sakura's long tail served as a female leg from Genma's doubled view, but otherwise, wouldn't have fooled anyone. The being in the bed's form was obviously not human; there was webbing at the hips the protruded through the blanket, fins at the end of the "legs" that also jutted out, and not to mention the fact that the "legs" were conjoined. Sakura heard the brown haired sailor sputter. It was replaced with a hearty laugh and, the Siren guessed from the noise, a slap on the wooden desk by the stool he was sitting on.

"Kaa! You got it tttonight? Before I came," a small hiccup could be heard from Sakura's prone position, "came in?"

"We were about to have sex before you knocked."

Genma stood up with some struggle. He made a few steps towards his captain when Kakashi put a hand out.

"She cares not for publicity. Her father is a simple smithy, and she would rather not the whole town find out she slept with a Captain for his sake," Kakashi said, taking a step towards Genma when he didn't stop.

Genma ceased his gait and offered Kakashi a crooked smile.

"Kakashi, conqueror of seas and defiler of," another hiccup ensued, "and defiler of town daughters," Genma said.

"Not the last part if you don't leave," Kakashi said smoothly with a hint of humor lifting his voice. Sakura rustled a little bit from underneath the blanket. Her sharp fins were beginning to create a tear in the thin, wool blanket. A minuscule tear, yes, but if Genma were to not leave soon, her fins would be clearly visible in no time. Kakashi seemed to understand this and made more preventative measures to get Genma out of the cabin.

The captain looped his arm around Genma's shoulder, being careful to do it soft enough so as to make the inebriated man not stumble and fall down.

"Kaaka can I join? Member when-," the door shut before he could finish his sentence. Sakura didn't even want know what the rest of it would be.

The door lock clicked into place. The ship creaked quietly in opposition to the action.

The Siren wiggled out from underneath the blanket, it catching in her edgy fins in the process. It snared onto her right one, and Kakashi made a move to walk over there and help her.

She took notice of this, looked up, and shot the captain a dirty look. The silver haired man watched as she struggled with the quilt's fabric. She was clearly not used to the dry material, as her hands were moving too fast. She was used to the gravity lessened water.

Sakura finally unfastened the fabric from her fins and crossed her arms. The fabric was stripped beyond repair at the endings.

The Siren watched as Kakashi turned to the desk by his door and removed some parchment and what looked to be a calligraphy pen from the middle drawer. Upon removing the items, he closed it by turning the golden knob adorning it.

Kakashi walked over to her and she unfolded her arms, ready to strike at this unknown and sudden movement. He ripped the shredded piece of quilt off for good. He held it in his hand and looked at her with expressive, black eyes. Kakashi knew that from the way her fingers moved in the air, she was able to write.

"You are going to write down instructions for me and what I need to do, and I am going to fasten your mouth with this cloth," the captain said to her. Sakura opened her mouth to offer a retort; a firm, solid no.

"You have seen what you have done to my men. I cannot risk having you sing and alerting them to your position in whatever strategy you are planning to kill me with right now in your head."

Sakura sneered.

"If your men would turn on you because of a song, maybe it's time you found a new crew," she said, her sneer growing with every pretty word.

Kakashi began tying the cloth around her mouth, forcing her fins down with his foot and her wrists in one hand. The creature thrashed beneath him.

"There is no room for arguing," Kakashi said. He pulled her hair up with his elbow so he could bind the cloth around her head and neck. The Siren thrashed even more at the close contact between herself and her captor.

"I have been," Kakashi lowered his voice, it becoming a few decibels softer as he began to knot the cloth behind her head, "more than lenient with you. I did not string you up and carry you to my ship in binds. No more risks are being taken." Kakashi finished the knot. He triple tied it. He released her wrists and her fins and stepped back, seeming to admire his work.

Kakashi would be lying if he said that the sight of this mystical creature in his bed, her bottom and top lips jutting out from the binding done by his hands, didn't stir some sort of primal, taboo attraction deep within him.

Sakura's pink scales glittered in the lantern's light, along with the burning hatred in her eyes.

Kakashi spoke to her in a low, teasing voice. The captain and leader in him loved the power he had in this moment.

"Or maybe I tied you up because I like your song far too much to share with my sailors."

 ** _a/n: it's been like 5 months since i got back on here. i've had school and work pls forgive me. anyways i still love you guys_**

 ** _i hate to be that guy but if we can get this story to 100 follows and 50 favorites, i'll update this story this week. i hate doing that but it'll really motivate me to grind these chapters out for you guys_**


End file.
